Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu
The Dangers in My Heart

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Story:

Starts off on a weird note and no telling where it'll go. Is it a romance between an unpopular guy and most popular girl in school? A chuuni-edge lord living his life? A SOL about an awkward kid? It didn't know what it wanted to be at first, but the chapters are too amusing for it to be a huge rain-on-a-parade. It definitely does shift towards a romance tone, though largely remains a subtle-comedy SOL.

Art:

A goofy art-style that'd you expect from a SOL school-life comedy. This series has a great "show-not-tell"-style of comedy. The characters' expressions & the background never fail to ... crack a smirk on my mug, it's not blatant but subtle. Overall, a very fun art style that does its job.

Characters:

If you've read WataMote, you'll likely enjoy our protagonist, though his awkwardness is much more comedic and light-hearted than Tomoko. You might wildly cringe or adore Ichikawa. At the start, his character was purely an edge-lord chuuni, which has toned-down over the progression of the story. Now, he's an awkward kid that doesn't know how to interact with girls (aka every middle-school guy). His narration is hilarious, couldn't ask for a better MC. As for our heroine, Yamada, she's the exact opposite. Bright, cheery and extroverted; her character allows for amusing interactions with Ichikawa. Though sometimes an airhead, she has some self-awareness and tact that doesn't make her an annoying bubbly character. The side-characters are also great for amusing scenes, that also help bring the two MCs together.

Enjoyment:

Though this series isn't entirely transparent with what it wants to be, it's nonetheless a very amusing and casual read with its wandering plot with its subtle comedy and romance. Very epic enjoyment.

Overall, I reward this an 8/10.

I found this manga via comments on a Komi-san chapter that said this was better because the romance progresses. I'm not worried about romantic progress but I love Komi-san so I checked it out to see how good it was.

Off the top, it's exactly my type of thing. If you don't like fluffy manga/anime, then pass. All this is (so far) is fluff.

Now, despite the Komi comparisons, this manga is more like "Kubo-san wa Mob wo Yurusanai" with more side characters. MC is a loner chuuni and FMC is way out of MC's league but strangely interested nonetheless. Hilarity ensues.

If there is anything to ... dislike, it would ironically be that the romantic progress is just as glacial as anything, it just hasn't been that way for over a hundred chapters yet. That and the story is basically nothing but what would you expect from this type of manga?

‘Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu’ was… surprising. Not in the nature of how it began, as this quintessential edgelord self-insert, but in the nature of its lengthy journey. While the manga drops its hook pretence rather early on, as the main character isn’t, in fact, a psychopath who wants to go on a murder spree of his classmates, it does deliver on something that a lot of shounen romances miss out on: consistent ‘individual’ progress. A lot of shounen romance do have ‘romance progress’, but it often rings extremely hollow due to how stagnant or annoying their characters tend to be.

In here, though, there ... is a consistent sense of progress when it comes to the main guy. While he’s still the classic shounen romance lead–staggeringly insecure, anxious, but a good boy overall–mangaka manages to push the character beyond the archetype. And however little outside of that archetype the character of Ichikawa lands, it is still enough to make him stand out.

Storywise, it’s a shounen romance–if you’ve read a couple, you’ve read them all. It’s set in middle school, but it somehow still manages to be less cringe and awkward and annoying than a good deal of high school romances while still revelling in the fact that these are actually kids more so than teens. You have your standard sick days, festival days, Valentine’s days, white day days, and a plethora of other tropes that you’ve likely grown familiar with. But like with all shounen romances, the story is irrelevant so long as the characters can hold the weight of the narrative–and here, well, they can.

As I said, Ichikawa is the classic sho-rom protag–from the onset he’s presented as a loner, anti-social, and the ever-classic ‘mumbles every word spoken to a girl’. While his ‘murderous wants’ do set him apart initially, they’re just a hook or, character-wise, a coping mechanism for what is effectively the ail of every boy like him–the dude’s just fuckin’ lonely. Over the course of many chapters, the growth is evident–it is not immediate. Just meeting the girl and chatting with her doesn’t dismantle his insecurities, but it does consistently push him into new things, evolving his character bit by bit.

Romance is slow, yes, but it harkens back well to the idea of romance at the age of 13-14 without stagnating or being boring. What helps is a decent cast of side characters that, while hardly ever developed into standalone people, do allow the story to breathe further beyond its basic romantic plot. A lot of it is simply glancing at the singular moments of middle schoolers–when they’re fighting, exploring new things, understanding it, trying to behave older than their age and so on, a fragmentation that captures our own memories of those days well enough.

Yamada, the counterpart to the main guy, is a semi-standard shounen romance main girl. She’s an extrovert to an introvert, she’s beautiful, popular, nice, all the good stuff–but, just like the main guy, she’s also insecure, uncertain, but to a level where it’s somewhat believable. That’s not to say that she clearly isn’t echoing manic pixie dreams that men for some reason seem to be beholden to even today, but just like Ichikawa, she does evolve beyond the prototype of the standard pixie girl whose sole reason for existence is to be there for the main guy.

She has a life outside of romance–she has passions that have nothing to do with the main guy, and even if they do feel somewhat surface-level, it is an important distinction that gives her a life beyond being a prop of a love story. Oftentimes, female leads in shounen and even seinen romances are relegated to being a stand-in fantasy, a prop beyond the scope of reality, something that never was or can be. And I actually have no issue with that–so long as it is understood as a fantasy–but it is always refreshing to see a female lead whose entire persona, individuality, and life isn’t tied to one guy. She’s not necessarily a mainstay standout, but she goes well beyond ‘serviceable’ into the realm of fairly decent characters.

What started as a fairly simple fluff romance (and, in all fairness, consistently was exactly that if you’re worried about some traumatic drama) does eventually dip its toes slightly beyond the base fluff of these types of stories. First loves are exciting and can never be lived twice in reality, so being able to capture the essence of them on paper in any capacity is always a win–it is the reason why we read these stories, after all, even when we’re well beyond the age of living them out in any capacity.

‘Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu’ might surprise you as it surprised me. I won’t claim it will turn your head or that if you’re not a fan of shounen romances it might make you one, but it is better than generic drivel that seems to pop up frequently these days. Few shortcomings–like very stale side characters, overreliance on some tropes of the genre, very misleading hook and so on–don’t break what is essentially a very decent capture of first love, awkward and odd and blush-dominated though it may be.

For all my life, I've questioned the appropriate distance. I wonder, what is the perfect view between objective and subjective? Don't get too close. Don't get too far. Let me drift, wistfully, down the middle.

In my heart, there are two characters: Kyoutarou Ichikawa, a disturbed character and Anna Yamada, a positive character.

In the manga Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu or The Dangers In My Heart, the author, Norio Sakurai, etches a heartfelt tale of two characters who close the distance in circling, meandering steps and a messy cascade of missteps. Unveiled are two, smaller characters, their truer selves exposed. A blossoming coming-of-age, ... their simultaneous discoveries mature larger than the sum of themselves. Joining heartbeats together, they listen. The longer they wait, the closer two heartbeats grow, until one day, they finally overlap in love.

Kyoutarou Ichikawa is a dark, tortured soul. He seeks to murder Anna Yamada, a stranger classmate who works as an idol, her skin as beautiful as alabaster and whose tall stature towers over classmates. Observing her, Ichikawa contemplates, wonders, and plots. Following a dozen chapters, he realizes the murderous worm consuming him was not in his head, but in his heart. He likes Yamada.

What is the appropriate distance?

He stares at the ceiling. A troubled past haunts him, all perpetuated by his actions. He isolates, burying himself in edgy amour, fantasizing and materializing murder. Only through his chuunibyou tendencies can he remain present. The gap between expectation and self grows, a chasm wedging him apart.

Enter Anna Yamada. A young idol, sitting in the library, stuffing her face with chips and stomping her feet like a gorilla? An airheaded, punchline princess with an ensemble of girl friends, featuring Serina, the delinquent, Chi, the ‘boyfriend’, and Moe, the slut, Yamada is a girl who, above all, desires to be funny. She's too shy to talk to boys and likes tickling her friends. Yet, as she cries in the classroom, hugging Chi, professing her anxiety and deference towards her idol career and her life, Yamada seems a little more adult than everyone else, especially to Ichikawa.

Every lunch, she retreats to the library to chug snacks and tease the stuttering boy behind the bookcase. She beams when Ichikawa responds, laughing at his strange quirks and values. Charmed, she ushers him forward into the light, like playing with a secretly, cute cat. In these moments, the story hits its stride, small moments where Yamada and Ichikawa connect, their synergy lying in how, despite all their contrasts, they communicate a caring appreciation, culminating.

Closer and closer.

They dance. Each chapter nailing the concept, each action meaningful and deliberate. Despite the slow nature of the romance, Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu wastes no time. From the genuine cast of realistic, dimensional characters to all the elegant, subtle continuations and nuances that make each reread especially beautiful, subjectively and objectively, The Dangers In My Heart is a momentous masterpiece. As I read, I lose all sense of distance.

This manga got an anime adaptation not too long ago, and I got absolutely hooked on it. So much so that I couldn't wait for the episodes to come out, so I decided to read ahead in the manga. As I read the manga, however, I started to slowly fall out of love with the story. Whenever the new episodes of the anime came out however, I was once again in love with it. There are a lot of people out there who defend mangas over their anime counterparts, but I'mma be real here, I think the anime elevates this story a heck of a ... lot.

I am aware that pretty much everything the anime does the manga does too, it is the source material after all, but what the anime does is it focuses the pacing, and adds a few details here and there that make the story feel cohesive. I get frustrated by romance stories that never go anywhere, which is why I was drawn to this series in the first place. It has a sense of progression. I find the manga has a lot of fluff that bogs down this sense of progression, especially with it's little bonus chapters that they sprinkle in constantly. They're all fun to read, but at the same time they feel pretty much tonally indistinguishable from the chapters that actually do matter. There's often a feeling in romance stories that revert to the status quo of hanging threads being unanswered, which I really dislike. Like, something happens between the characters and there's a moment of ooooo I wonder how they're gonna resolve this tension and then.... it just tangents onto something else and we forget the prior thing ever happened. This is my biggest complaint with stories like komi can't communicate (but let's get back to the focus at hand). The problem with the pacing of the manga is there's a lot of padding, and various plot threads feel like they go unanswered for a little longer than you'd expect, even in actual full chapters sometimes. There's an episodic feel to things with occasional continuity, which can be a little frustrating. What the anime does is it cleans things up, and rearranges some of the events in a way that makes them actually feel like they are cohesively flowing into each other, day by day. That was the biggest reason the anime even stood out to me, is there never felt like a moment where the continuity just got reset. There were also occasional details that were modified in the anime that I felt better suited the character developments. Generally I just find the progression in the manga a little haphazard in comparison. I ended up dropping the manga around episode 8 in the anime's continuity (I think it was either ch30 or 40, somewhere around there) in favor of experiencing the show blind, because I felt like it executed everything better, and I plan to do the same with its season 2. If you are someone who is interested in watching the anime, I'd say watch that instead, and if you have seen it and want a little more content between these two, the manga does have the advent of having the extra little bonus content in its bonus chapters, but it's nothing you haven't seen elsewhere, so idk, it's up to you if you read it.

Also somewhat unrelated complaint with the manga, but it has a decent amount of somewhat creepy art of Yamada. Like, when Yamada is being romanticized/sexualized from the perspective of Ichikawa, it makes sense because that's from his perspective. But the manga has a lot of non-canon panels that feel more like pandering for the audience and... need I remind you all that Yamada is a middle schooler? This kinda made the whole manga reading experience a lot more uncomfortable, and I couldn't end a review on it without at least mentioning it

I can't decide between a 6 or a 7/10, but I'm leaning 6 just cause it's okay, but there's a better version out there in my opinion. However, I cannot deny that the manga came first and did write the baseline for a story that I really enjoy. To those of you manga fans of this one, if you like this one I can totally see why. It does have a lot going for it, it's just not my preference.

The Dangers In My Heart is a laid back slice of life romcom that takes place in a school setting, just like many before it within the genre it doesn't really have much direction, but there is some. It's somewhat of an episodic series but does have some character growth between the main pairing of this manga. Ichikawa starts off with an overtly edgy impression of wanting to murder the heroine for some unknown reason but slowly grows closer to her and becomes more of an awkward little boy that crushes on his dream girl. Now onto the girl herself, Yamada greatly contrasts with Ichikawa ... with her much more lighthearted personality and ditsy attitude which at times appear to be quite odd. It's cute to see these two interact with each other as they slowly develop their relationship. One of the main highlights that make the execution of this SOL stand out is Ichikawa's narration, he takes more of an observer role rather than starting situations himself, then later gets himself involved in them. He commentates on these situations in an amusing way as he does not hold back on saying the truth in his little head, making comments on some of the bitchy girls or scummy guys in his school which all makes for some good laughs.

The art is simple but looks good and works for the story it is portraying, the most attractive character by design in the series if of course the heroine herself Yamada. Just like their personalities their designs contrast each other with their own dynamic as Yamada is very tall for a girl and Ichikawa is short for a guy, in summary he looks like a gender bent version of Tomoko from WataMote with his gloomy appearance.

Overall I rate this an 8, it's a simple and casual read. I recommend this for those who want to relax and get a few laughs out of a good slice of life.

After reading this i've to say that this is the best Rom-com i've read.....In the start you will get some mixed feelings but after reading few chapters you will be hooked ( just like me ).

Unlike other Rom-com Mc's who take 100s of chapter to realize that they love the Main girl but still are afraid of making moves on the Main girl. This mc does a great job he does realize that he loves and does everything for her.

The best thing according to me of this manga is the development of the Mc and the devolopment of the relationship. The realtionship isn't forced and ... takes good time to develop. The side characters are likeable and play a good role in Mcs life and development.

The author did a great job in solving the problems and cracking the tension with comedy.

My the dangers in my heart review :)
(first review pls go ez on me)

Story:
The Dangers in My Heart follows Kyotaro Ichikawa, a middle schooler with a dark imagination who believes he’s destined to be an outsider. He’s obsessed with the idea of doing something drastic, but his life takes an unexpected turn when he starts interacting with Anna Yamada, a popular and cheerful girl in his class. The story is a mix of dark humor and sweet moments, gradually shifting from Ichikawa's internal struggles to a genuine, slow-burning romance.
10/10

Characters:
Ichikawa and Yamada are the core of the series. Ichikawa starts off as a loner with ... strange thoughts, but his character grows in a way that feels authentic. Yamada is more than just the typical "popular girl"—she’s quirky, kind, and has her own insecurities. Their relationship develops naturally, with plenty of awkward yet endearing moments that make them a relatable and charming duo.
10/10

Art:
The art style is straightforward but effective, with expressive character designs that capture emotions well. The series makes good use of visual humor, particularly through Ichikawa’s exaggerated fantasies. The simplicity of the backgrounds helps keep the focus on the characters, which suits the story’s tone.
8/10

Enjoyment:
Overall, The Dangers in My Heart is a fun and heartwarming series. It balances comedy and romance nicely, making it easy to get attached to the characters and their journey. It’s a unique take on the rom-com genre that offers both laughs and genuinely touching moments.
10/10

Reading Rankings (stole it from Huang-Teizan)
10 - God’s penmanship
9 - Must-read. Drop everything else.
8 - Instant bookmark
7 - Entertaining
6 - Good to pass time
5 - Why are you reading this?
4 - Bad.
3 - Typical garbage.
2 - My head hurts.
1 - Retirement is a thought.
0 - “Did they even give you a story?!”

The Dangers in my heart - or Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu, if you prefer Japanese is a story about social awkward teenagers who fall in love with each other.

Of course every Romcom needs to have a gimmick, so you can tell it apart from the rest. This one features the smallest guy in class with the tallest girl of the school.

On the first view they don't seem to have nothing in common, but the more the story progresses, the more you see how well they fit together:

Ichikawa is interested in morbid things like murder and crime, likes skulls and dark clothes - ... things that make him the "weird kid" and a social outcast. A lot of stuff only happens in his head, he wants to be mean and cruel, but deep down he's a very caring person who wouldn't hurt a fly. He spends most of his time in the library, the place where Yamada, the female MC hangs out a lot as well... but for a different reason.

Yamada is a tall girl with extraordinary beauty. She works as a modell and is well liked by her peers and the other students at school. She has a lot of admireres as well, she's often the focus of attention. But she is not described as a perfect girl at all, she has many faults and quirks. She never excells at anything, she's mediocre at most things she does. The reason she meets Ichikawa in the library? She hides there to eat snacks in secret.

Since you see most of the story throug Ichikawa's eyes you'll gradually see more and more sides of her.


This manga is extraordinary in the means of "Show don't tell." Most of the characters' actions are nonverbal, sometimes they even contradict their words. It also doesn't shy away from conversations "real" teenagers would have, that one guy of the friend group for example does talk about Porn and Sex a lot. Compared to other dense MCs or "handholding is lewd" Manga, this one handles these things in a realistic manner.

The Art is not overly complicated, but unique. The characters look goofy for the comedic scenes but also bring the point accross when the mood gets serious.

I personally couldn't help but smile almost the whole time while reading this manga.

9/10.

The synopsis for this manga is very inaccurate compared to what the story is actually about. The beginning is centered towards the MC's slightly violent/disturbing thoughts but only for the first few chapters. This would-be plot point is lightly sprinkled throughout the manga but it isn't important in the slightest.

In reality, the manga is actually a fluffy wholesome romantic comedy about the development of the relationship between our unpopular loner male protagonist with the popular female lead who actively tries to grow closer to our MC. It starts off slow, but unlike some romcoms (those that shall not be named in this review), their relationship ... develops progressively faster throughout the story.

As of this review, chapters are still being made for this manga.

I would be lying if I said I was an Avid Mange reader, It takes a lot for me to care about picking up a series. I watched The Dangers in my heart Anime when it released earlier this year, and as a big Romance fan when it comes to anime, I loved how the anime portrayed the affection and storytelling these 2 had.

I wills say, now that Ive caught up and read the entire Manga, Season 2 is going to be 10x better than season 1. The mange itself shows such a great way of expressing emotion that both the characters have and ... I cant wait to see that in the anime. I know this aint a proper manga review, but if you enjoyed the Anime, you must read the manga!

The anime really did an excellent job adapting this manga thanks to its art, direction, and music.

They improved scenes and added other originals that in my opinion turned out better, however the extra content of the play and comedy that the original manga handles is lost a bit, it's a shame.

Let's talk about the premise, which in itself is misleading and a necessary evil in my opinion, although romance is not my favorite genre, I must admit that this anime/manga really left me fascinated, the interactions of the main protagonists at the beginning of the work, that awkwardness/embarrassment and development that they handle throughout the ... episodes is very well written, it's like you're actually seeing two real teenagers interact.

I reiterate that I have never seen a teenage couple better written and treated than in boku no kokoro, most romances falter in that area and it seems that their protagonists have no life and their relationship is not credible because they do not focus enough to demonstrate it to the reader/viewer, but this manga came to demonstrate how a genuine and realistic teenage love story should be developed and written that captivates the viewer and that, in some way, you support these two and believe that they are perfect for each other despite living in such different worlds.


I don't give it a 10 because the manga falters in the art, the character design seems unique and pleasant to me, the drawing shows a constant evolution as the episodes go by and that is excellent but as I say, it only evolves and is currently quite good.

Still, I think the art can be better.

This is a super generic romcom with the usual trope of loner MC and the popular classmate FMC. But really really sweet with plenty of comedy. Just remember to get through the 10-ish chapters which are kinda... meh. But it starts to get good from the moment where MC realizes he likes FMC.

Plot
The summary is fairly inaccurate, so i am writing about the plot here. MC is the usual loner, but finds our FMC attractive. FMC is also a professional Model. She eats A LOT. So, to eat in secret, she comes to the library regularly. Our MC (being a loner) also reads crime ... related books in the library alone. This is where their romance begins. The rest is more or less the usual romcom stuff with plenty of comedy. Both of them facing their problems head on, slowly growing as adults and so on.

The negatives
But i shall warn you. This is not a realistic story. The series is more or less pandering to male otakus. Most of the "drama" feels forced. The story also stretches this "will they, won't they" bullshit for a long while. Each character being super obvious about their love, still wondering whether the other person actually likes them. Almost confessing, but not doing it. Yeah.. the whole package of romcom tropes is here.

The positives
And that is fine. \We read this stuff for the sweet moments between characters that give the readers second hand embarassment. and we have plenty of those cutesy chapters.
1. The FMC being huge and the MC being tiny is really funny tbh. It probably awakened a new fetish in the new generation of manga readers.
2. This is as much a Slice of Life story, as it is a romcom. Both of the lead characters make a lot of progress with their insecurities.
3. The side cast, especially the families of main characters are hilarious. You know it is a good chapter whenever we see them.
4. The main characters have a certain erotic chemistry. Whenever they are close to each other, you can feel the sexual tension. I guess it is due to the character design of our female MC.

The most important thing is that despite the over use of the tropes, the manga still held my interest enough to finish upto 120 chapters. I know that this is definitely not for everyone, but for the target audience like me, it is definitely one of a must read.

STOP RIGHT HERE.. and read this manga now! If you're reading these reviews then you're likely in search of similar romcom manga of the likes of 'Komi-san' or 'Horimiya'. Well rest easy as you've found what you're looking for!

This title is flat-out diabetic in it's wholesomeness involving a somewhat introverted character getting to better know an extroverted one. Many classic high-school hi-jinks take place but are handled really well so you're never left feeling frustrated by mc-denseness or excessive interruption scenarios.

I'm really glad the MAL synopsis has been recently updated because at least it's clear this is a pure romcom with an utterly cute story ... with some heart-warming developments.. it's so hard to put down!

The style is similar to Komi-san in being more than a 4-koma but short of full manga - and it works really well with each chapter with enough content to progress the story just a little bit. You won't regret picking this up.

This is now my favorite Rom-Com of all time. To be fair in the beginning you get the sense that the story itself doesn't really know where it's going, and its characters have some strange traits that were dropped or changed later, but after the character's personalities begin to stabilize around chapter 20 the magic that is the chemistry between the MC and FMC really starts to shine. I have reread the entire series from time to time while waiting for new chapters to drop, and every time I look forward to certain chapters where the dynamic between the MC and FMC are literally the ... most adorable and cutest interactions I have ever read in any rom-com manga ever. So hard recommend, and my one advice if you don't enjoy it at first is to just get past chapter 20 and really give it a chance cause it only gets better as it progresses.

This manga is literally a perfect rom-com. The beginning is a bit weird but after like 2-3 chapters the manga’s plot becomes 10x better. Despite its art try reading it its super good. Damn this website wants be to write a longer review, oh well. Then I might as well describe the protagonist and heroin. So its about a guy who has this urge to kill people, and a girl who is like sporty, tall, and addicted to snacks. You wanna know more about them? Go read the manga.
Tch that was a great ending but this literal website keeps saying longer review.

This is a manga I would recommend to anyone that likes Romance, Comedy, Wholesomeness, Slice of Life, and pleasurable progression, this manga begins as if it's a Thriller, but it's intentionally misleading because of how much of the story will make you Cringe in how sugary it is.

Story: The story seems almost irrelevant until a callback is made that shows off the subtlety of the writing. The first run through you'll read it and you may think that there's no progression occurring at all, but the story progresses to reveal the depth to Ichikawa and Yamada's bond that they establish and continuously strengthen, not just ... Ichikawa's sake, but especially Yamada's since we experience the story through Ichikawa's mind who grows more concerned for her and as Yamada's character is expressed through the art.

Art: The art style is very unique and the art can very easily bring across the point that the story is trying to tell, even to the point of startling attention to detail. As Ichikawa is expressed through words and his thoughts, Yamada's words at times may be misleading for how she truly is feeling and thinking, her expressions shows her to be more realistic and at times more mature in her instability compared to Ichikawa's teenage angst.

Character: The beginning makes you think that Ichikawa is the "off" character until through the story through revealing art you realize Yamada is really more unstable than him. She hides her true thoughts and feelings throughout the narrative with eventual peeks being given, and as she slowly reveals her true character he unknowingly is pulled from the darkness of confusion, anger, and teenage hormones to the light of friendship, understanding, and warmth.

Enjoyment: And speaking of hormones I began reading this manga because I heard it was wholesome, and as someone who had low self esteem and who had been emotionally bankrupt for years, I found myself reading this manga with so much emotion and anticipation I thought people exaggerating when they would say they'd cry because of some movies, but with this manga I found myself smiling beyond control, crying and smiling at the same time, happy yelling through my teeth, constantly checking for the next chapter release and seriously contemplating learning Japanese so I can read it faster.

Overall: I don't think any synopsis or recommendation that I could give could be good enough to justly get you interested in this manga without actually giving spoilers, but if you take anything from this review take that this story is deeper than it seems and that you should read a little further than what your first expectations are.

Story: 9/10
Honestly it give me same vibe like komi san but actually i enjoy reading. For anyone try to enjoy read this , its slow start for few chapter and its keep development each plot, each scene..each character you gonna love it how this story expand espcaially the bonding relationship of yamada and ichikawa.

Art: 9/10
i dont have a good art specialize or something but i can tell art in this manga was great, make our eyes enjoy to ready and their character emotion...

Character: 10/10
Why i give higher because in my opinon i can see each character development espacially ichikawa.. each chapter he keep growing ... his personality to positive vibe surrounding him and also yamada her growing personality keep blooming toward ichi. I dont forget support character also keep improve each chapter.

Overarll: 9/10
Like i said it give me same vibe like komi san but the different is the romance progress in this manga slightly great but i like komi san as well. BTW i enjoy read this hopefully in the future i look foward upcoming volume and chapter. whose know maybe they married someday...

This is a truly deceptive manga.

From the synopsis and first few chapters, you'd think this is going to be an edgy, borderline fetishistic (which isn't all that off the mark) story about a little creep who thinks a little too much about killing his own classmates, and that the story would somehow back that up every chapter. Somrthing like Shounen no Abyss.

Instead, this is just a sweet, run-of-the-mill self-insert romance manga between an edgy guy full of angst and the classroom's muse who eats way too much. The main character's dreams of murder stop being relevant and are barely ever brought up again pretty soon ... into the story, and what we get are just the usual interactions between the two of them. Sometimes the MCs love of gore, true crime and murder comes into play, especially to explain why he's so weird and has no friends (understandably), but it's not as tied into the narrative as the synopsis makes it seem.

Overall just another sweet romance manga that focuses on direct interactions between the main couple, like Kubo-san or SukiMega.

Recently, there's been an influx in "Reiwa Era Romcoms", rom-coms which are characterized by their fast-pace, progress, and "chad" protagonists. While these faster-paced rom-coms are refreshing, BokuYaba is proof that a classic slow-burn romance is still very much worth reading as well. For those that are into a fluffy, feel-good romance with a slow and steady progression, BokuYaba will surely satisfy you.

Story (6/10):
First off, I need to say, the synopsis on MAL is insanely misleading. This manga is a lighthearted romantic comedy centered around the relationship between an introverted chuuni Ichikawa and a ditzy girl Yamada. The whole "psycho murderer" thing is basically a non-factor ... which quickly becomes irrelevant. The story itself is a pretty standard school boy-meets-girl romance. It doesn't have any twists, or crazy moments, it's a sweet little backdrop for the characters to really interact.

Art (7/10):
The art is simple but nice. The character designs are appealing, the expressions are cute, and the panels are arranged nicely. It's got a bit of a rough sketchiness to it, but personally I find that to be part of the charm. It's a little weird that Yamada is supposed to be a middle schooler with the way the artist draws her but that's whatever. I like this manga's art overall.

Character (10/10):
Like with any good romance, the characters are the real meat and potatoes of the manga. Ichikawa and Yamada have such an impressively realistic chemistry together. There's a compelling development from their budding friendship to a romantic interest that a lot of manga tend to skip over. Ichikawa learning to better himself for Yamada, and Yamada becoming more sensitive to Ichikawa's feelings is really great stuff, and it's not hammered over the reader's head at all. The characterization is subtle and leads to a pair of really charismatic protagonists.

Enjoyment (9/10):
This manga is just such a feel good read. I can't not feel happy after reading a chapter. I want to praise the side stories as well, which are legitimately some of the best parts of the manga. They depict sort of scattered moments of Ichikawa and Yamada spending time together as friends. This is one thing that the manga does so well in comparison to others: conveying a deep relationship which isn't centered around some one-note gimmick. Ichikawa and Yamada like each other, and I mean that in a non-juvenile way. They deeply understand and care for one another, which is something I can't say for a lot of manga couples.

Overall (8/10):
A very solid romantic comedy overall, and it's working its way up to being one of my current favorites. It's greatest feat is portraying real chemistry between its love interests, which is strangely not very common in anime or manga.